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Oct 31 Candy Corn Chaos

Husband and I were of the opinion that Halloween with two kids of trick-or-treating age would not be busy enough. Together, we brainstormed what to do to add a little something-something to the candy corn chaos. And then, like a bolt of lightning, it hit us. A birthday party. What's better than sugar-soaked mayhem coated with sugar-soaked mayhem? Yum. So, we were on it. Baby's first birthday party on Halloween morning. Genius. Utter genius. Right.

All we did was invite twenty odd kids aged 0-12 right around universal Nap Time, instruct them to wear costumes and come ready to ingest mass quantities of sugar and to rock and roll. Rock and roll? Yes. That's right. For all you non-Manhattan folk, we city crazies hire kiddie crooners to play while parents sweat and toddlers shimmy and babies cry and play with plastic straws.

There were just a few things to remember: the cliched "I'm One" pink fluffy party hat, plenty of pizza, and one hundred orange and black balloons.

Obviously, the birthday girl had to have the perfect little costume. For many months, per her big sis, she was to be a black bat. Two days ago, I started negotiations with Toddler, explaining that I didn't want all of Baby's first birthday party pictures to be of her in an unimpressive piece of black felt. Toddler, sweet Toddler, permitted her baby sis to be a piglet. Victory. What a cute little piggy she was.

Our little piggy was decidedly unfazed by the crowd and the noise and the toasty pig hat on this unseasonably warm day. She toddled about, dancing among the big kids, rolling her little arms to "Wheels on the Bus," sneaking stray candy corns from the hard wood floors.

She looked on in awe as her big sis, the fancy jaguar, got her groove on in the middle of our living room. One day, Baby. One day.

And just as all of the kids began to melt, we presented the cake. A big old candy corn for our little one-year-old. I held a piglet on one hip and a jaguar on the other as we all sang Happy Birthday.

And then we all ate cake. (And some of us smeared it all over ourselves and the floor because that's way more fun.)

And then it was time to say goodbye. To squeeze naps in before Halloween festivities. Before letting our little friends leave, we plied them with the very child-appropriate favors below, on which very few small children are likely to choke.

It's been a good day. A sweet day. I like this two-for-one holiday thing. It causes almost no stress at all. I'm thinking maybe we should have Toddler's birthday party on Christmas. We can have a candy cane cake, red and green balloons, and give out little stockings stuffed with very holiday-appropriate chokable items. Hmmm...

Okay, signing off to stuff the kiddos in their costumes once more and trick or treat. Happy Halloween!